Thousands attend Trenton’s 2016 Art All Night

Glassblower Nick Toth demonstrates his skill as he works on a new creation at Art All Night.
GREGG SLABODA —THE TRENTONIAN

TRENTON >> From live music performances to an eye-catching graphic design depicting Donald Trump on the $1 bill, the 10th annual Art All Night event in Trenton was on track to garner a record-setting attendance this weekend.

“It feels great,” said event director Joseph Kuzemka, adding he had expected at least 30,000 people throughout the tri-state area to attend the 24-hour extravaganza.

“This is our 10-year anniversary,” Kuzemka said. “From the beginning, we never knew something like this would work in the city of Trenton.”

But Art All Night has indeed worked, becoming a tremendously successful and iconic event for New Jersey’s capital city.

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The event on Saturday attracted people like Jeremy Lipoff, 22, who came from Monroe Township, Middlesex County, to attend his first Art All Night.

“I really dig the art. This sculpture here is good,” Lipoff said, pointing to a Caltiki replica sculpture. “I want to check out the film festival.”

On that front, the 2016 Art All Night International Film Festival featured 170 films from 34 different countries, according to Kuzemka, who has been involved with Art All Night since its inception 10 years ago.

Among the musicians who performed at the event Saturday afternoon was New Jersey native Danielia Cotton, who grew up in Hopewell but currently lives in New York City. To perform in Trenton with her five-member band on Saturday, “It’s awesome,” Cotton said. “It’s New Jersey. It’s great.”

Held at the historic Roebling Wire Works building at 675 South Clinton Ave., attendees at the 10th annual Art All Night enjoyed activities such as the “silent disco” dancing and receiving free haircut designs from employees of Hamilton-based Bino’s New Era Barbershop.

One of the numerous art pieces on display was a wall-mounted sculpture depicting medieval knight armor. Another art piece on display was a graphic design called “The Almighty Dollar” that depicted billionaire Donald Trump, the presumptive 2016 Republican presidential nominee, on the $1 bill instead of George Washington.

Darlene Neil, 60, came all the way from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, to attend the 10th annual Art All Night. “I love art shows. I love museums,” she said. “I just love creativity and self-expression and beauty.”

Mary Linda Perry, 64, of Trenton, had invited Neil and several other friends and associates to attend this year’s Art All Night, which began 3 p.m. Saturday and ends 3 p.m. Sunday.

“Anything that has to do with art in Trenton, because people don’t realize how great the city is and how diverse it is,” said Perry, adding she has been coming to Art All Night for at least the last five years. “The more people you could get in the arts who normally wouldn’t do this, it opens them up to so much,” she said.

While Kuzemka has been involved with Art All Night from the beginning, he said the event began experiencing “incredible growth” in the last five years, which is when he had taken on the reins as event director.

“We have beautiful weather, a tremendous amount of art … you really couldn’t ask for anything better, especially with this being the 10th anniversary,” Kuzemka said.

Last year’s Art All Night attracted a record 25,000 attendees, according to Kuzemka , who had expressed confidence that this weekend’s 2016 rendition would be even bigger.

“We are anticipating a minimum of 30,000 to come this year,” he said. “A lot of people build their Father’s Day weekend around this.”

More than 400 volunteers like 15-year-old Stephen Crafton-Tempel of Freehold helped make the weekend event a regional attraction to people from Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, according to Kuzemka.

Erica Layton, client and family support coordinator of Recovery Advocates of America Inc., a Hamilton-based nonprofit, spoke highly of Kuzemka on Saturday as she enjoyed the festivities of Art All Night.

“He is just such an awesome guy,” Layton said of Kuzemka, who was named The Trentonian’s 2015 Person of the Year. Layton, an annual attendee of Art All Night, said she is friends with much of the staff who organized the event, adding, “I think it’s a great project revitalizing Trenton. … This is a great thing they do.”